One Small Change
by CrystalRose03
Summary: "Trust me", she finished. "I don't even know you", he fired back. "Well don't I look trustworthy?", she asked, not missing a beat. He found himself saying, "Maybe". A genuine smile lit up her face and he felt that feeling bubble up again, what the hell? "Okay good, let's go eat", she walked out the door then stopped and turned back to him, he hadn't moved. "Coming?". Literati.
1. Chapter 1

"Rory, they're here".

The words snapped her out of her reverie. Her finger froze on the page and she allowed a second for her mind to catch up. Luke. Nephew. Dinner. She slipped a well-worn bookmark in between the pages slowly. In her peripheral vision, she saw something black move into her doorway. She turned around as the book shut. He wasn't looking at her, eyes glancing around the room.

"Hey", she said with a bright smile, turning around,

"I'm Rory"

X

Without thought, he knew some rude comment would leave his mouth, probably 'I figured', or some variation. But then he was suddenly jolted into focus, as he realized he hadn't. Something had stopped the words from leaving his mouth, which was honestly a bit alarming. That had never happened before, didn't matter the circumstance nor person. Bewildered, his eyes met the girl sitting in the chair's. She had a bright smile on, and he felt ...something.

"Jess", he found himself saying. He didn't understand why, but it seemed to lack his usual 'I don't have to know you, I hate everyone' tone. He internally shook his head.

"Nice to meet you", he didn't reply, walking around and scanning the titles of all the books on the shelves. Again, he expected a remark to be spill from his lips, again, he found something stopping it from coming out.

X

He was looking at her books, bringing a hand up and ghosting over the spine of one.

"Oh, I read a lot", as soon as the words left her mouth, she felt stupid. Of course he could see that. While thinking she sounded stupid, more words spilled from her mouth before she could stop them, making her feel even more stupid,

"Do you read?", he turned to look at her just as he took the book from the shelf.

"Not much", he replied, glancing at the book and then opening the first page.

"I could loan you that, it's great", she desperately wished she could kick herself to stop the flow of words. He quickly shut the book and put it down,

"No thanks", he said, hands going to his pockets. She refrained from biting the inside of her mouth.

"Well if you change your mind", she didn't finish the sentence. Why couldn't she just stop the awkward vomit of words coming out of her mouth?! She watched him as he wandered over and stood in front of her, looking her in the eye, it looked like he wanted to say something.

"Okay, we really need to get Jackson away from the lemons now, so we're moving the feast into the living room.

X

"Be right there", she called as her mom turned away. He walked over to the window and examined it.

"So do these open?", he was sure this was the most he had said to her at once, and he found a part of him didn't mind that.

"Oh yeah, you just have to unlatch them and then push", her hands mimicked the actions as she spoke. He followed her instructions.

"Great. Shall we?"

"Shall we what?", he face showed a somewhat endearing confusion. What was up with him?

"Bail", he replied, although he wasn't really sure what was driving him to do this, it wasn't exactly his normal routine. Her eyes looked from left to right, as if searching for an explanation to what he just said.

"No", her voice made it sound like a question, but she sounded a bit offended.

"Why?", the question was out of his mouth before he could think it through.

"Because it's Tuesday night in Stars Hallow", she made it sound so obvious, but to her it probably was,

"There's nowhere to bail to, the 24 hour Minimart just closed 20 minutes ago", she was slipping into comfortable banter, why did that thought almost make him want to smile.

"So we'll walk around, or sit on a bench and stare at our shoes", he kept a serious face, even though they both knew he was joining in the banter - a tiny bit. She smiled.

"Look, Sookie just made a ton of really great food and I'm starving, and though it may not seem like it right at this moment it's gonna be fun", she seemed so convinced of that, it actually surprised him.

"Trust me", she finished.

"I don't even know you", he fired back.

"Well don't I look trustworthy?", she asked, not missing a beat. He found himself saying,

"Maybe". A genuine smile lit up her face and he felt that feeling bubble up again, what the hell?

"Okay good, let's go eat", she walked out the door and stopped and turned back to him, he hadn't moved.

"Coming?"

"Well, I did only say 'Maybe'". This seemed to leave her for once without a retort. He failed to fight down a smirk. An adorable look came over her face as she thought, analyzed him, and glanced around the room looking for inspiration.

"Okay, how about this. You come with me, and _endure_ this dinner -which I promise will not be as bad as your thinking- and then we can sneak out any window you want -or possibly even a door- and go walk around and look at our shoes", he eyed her suspiciously, which was completely just for show.

"I promise?", she added when he still didn't reply.

"I better get the whole tour", he enjoyed the triumphant smile that filled her features.

"Well come on then. Soda?", he nodded, following her as she grabbed two cans from the fridge and led him through the archway into the living room.

"Hey", she said sitting down, he took the empty seat next to her.

"Do you eat pot roast?", he hadn't even properly sat down, the eager question caught him off guard. He turned to face the overly-smiley woman seated across from him.

"I can make some grilled cheese if you want?", the man beside her smiled, Jess just stared at her without saying anything. Rory nudged him under the table.

"Er, no. The pot roast is fine. Thanks", he added as an afterthought.

Luke stared at his nephew who was having some kind of silent communication with Rory who looked - _smug?_ When was the last time he had seen Rory Gilmore look _smug_ ?- as Sookie grinned at Jess and had a quick hushed conversation with Jackson.

"So Jess, what do you do in your spare time?", Lorelai asked, causing both teens to direct their attention to her. Jess just shrugged. Lorelei looked at a loss for how to respond.

"Oh come on, there must be _something_ you enjoy doing", Rory interjected. Lorelai sent her a grateful smile, which she didn't seem to notice, focusing solely on Jess. A strange look came over the older Gilmore's face for a fraction of a second.

"Not really", he answered, Rory glared at him, although it was obvious there wasn't any malicious intent behind it .

Jess just smirked as he put his first forkful of food into his mouth.

X

"I better wash these then", Lorelai stated, standing up. Rory nodded and pushed in her chair, Jess followed her.

"So, as excruciating as you originally presumed?", he was tempted to lie, and he usually would, but something made him reply honestly.

"So maybe it wasn't the worst dinner I've ever been to", he didn't look at her knowing smile.

"Anyway, I'm pretty sure I was promised the grand tour?", Rory rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Hey Mom, I'm gonna show Jess the town, we'll be back in a bit", Lorelei said something he couldn't hear and then Rory grabbed her coat off of the coat stand,

"Come on, let's go", he felt the urge to grin, which he ignored again as he followed her out the door.

X

"And that's Doose's market. You'll hear all about Taylor from Luke, so I'll leave your imagination run wild until then", she finished, leaning against the gazebo,

"So how much of that did you get", Jess raised an eyebrow at her and she grinned. Sighing, he turned around to where they had first started.

"Well over there's the dance studio. Watch out for Ms Patty. Al's Pancake World. Doesn't sell pancakes...", as he listed off every single building, Rory just stared at him. She wished he would speak more, for the first time she had the chance to realize what a nice voice Jess had. It was really smooth and quiet, and it had a certain rhythmic melody to it. How long could she just stand there staring at his face and listening to that voice?

"... And that over there is the house that landed on the witch, and Dorothy knew she had landed in Oz", blinking, Rory focused and met his smug eyes.

"Oh, uh, sorry", she muttered, knowing her cheeks were red. She let a piece of hair fall over her face as she avoided his gaze, staring at the ground as she waited for her face to cool down. She almost jumped when a soft hand tucked the hair back behind her ear. Startled, her eyes snapped up to his face. He was looking at her, like he was examining her, yet she kind of liked it. Her blue orbs locked with his dark ones and she felt a jolt run down her spine, breath hitching. They stayed like that, neither moving.

"So, anywhere else in this place to see?", he whispered, abruptly breaking the spell.

Rory took a minute to gather her thoughts.

"Well, there's the bridge", her voice came out in a hoarse whispered, she blushed and cleared her throat.

"The bridge. This way", she walked in front of him at a fast pace, he followed with a small, hidden smile.

X

"I come here when I want to read. Surprisingly, most people avoid the bridge, choosing the shortcut. Unless I'm actually in a rush, I always walk across it though. I'm pretty sure half of the people here don't even know it exists, not that I mind". She walked over and sat down, legs dangling above the water. After a moment, Jess joined her. They sat in a comfortable silence.

"So really, what _do_ you do in your spare time?", she asked turning to him with an expression of curiosity. He laughed lightly to himself,

"A bit of this and that", she noticed the bitter edge to his tone and chose to ignore it.

"Ah, yes, I personally prefer doing mostly that, but a bit of this is good to shake things up once in a while", he looked at her with what she wanted to say was amusement, but he hid his emotions behind this mask - which she hated, but hey, she'd only met the guy a few hours ago.

She glanced down at her watch,

"Woah! We should get back, I had no idea how long we spent out here!", she stood up and brushed down her jeans. Jess pulled up his sleave to see his own watch.

"Huh".

X

As they walked, Rory found the time going to the back of her mind, and her fast pace slowed down to a leisurely stroll. By the time they got back to the house, she was grinning, and he had a -small- smile/smirk on his face.

"You two took your time", Lorelai called from the doorway.

"Sorry, Mom. Lost track of time, but Jess knows every building now, and even some insider tips", Lorelai watched as he rolled his eyes, failing to stop the tiny way his lips turned up, and Rory shot him a mock-hurt face. Something went shooting through her heart.

"We should be leaving now, anyway. Thanks again, Lorelai", Luke said, emerging from behind her. He smiled and gave Rory a brief nod as he walked past.

"See you, then", Jess muttered, turning to follow his uncle. Rory grinned again,

"Yeah, see you", and with that she went inside, but couldn't help but watch as Jess' figure walked around the corner. Lorelai frowned.

 **X**

 **So that's the first chapter. Just to establish, Rory is dating Dean at this current point in time. It's funny how things could have turned out so different, I much prefer this ending ;). Please review, I want to know your thoughts.** _ **-Crys**_


	2. Chapter 2

So that meeting with Mr Medina hadn't gone the worst it could of. It was actually okay. But she needed to ignore that. He was not _Max_ , he was _Mr Medina_ , her teacher, who she had to interview. And whose interview she needs to buy a folder for.

Rory sighed and pushed open the door to the shop.

 **X**

Jess took in a deep breath. Luke had no right to say those things to him, he wasn't his parent. Luke was his uncle, who he had absolutely no memory of. Luke didn't know him. Just because Liz dumped him on him didn't mean he got to suddenly act like a parent, because he wasn't. His finger twitched in need of a cigarette, why didn't he bring his pack with him?

Then he saw her, just walking. He found his legs moving in her direction without a thought.

"Hey". She looked up and smiled,

"Oh, hey!"

"What are you doing out here?", wow, amazing conversation skills, Mariano. His conversing skills never bothered him before... What was up with him?

"Just getting some stuff for school, what about you?"

"Oh yeah - same thing", why did he say that? What if she asked-

"It's different with all the people, huh?", she interrupted his thoughts and he stared at her blankly for a second.

"Louder", he responded, glancing around at the crowds of people walking around them.

"Oh yeah, as loud as New York I bet". He smirked,

"You'd be surprised".

He started fiddling with a coin in his hand.

"What are you doing?", she asked, watching the coin.

"Oh this?", he held up his hand,

"Nothing. Just a little disappearing act", he opened his now empty hand. She laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Another insider's tip? If you ever want to speak to me again, don't pull that out of my ear"

"So I assume the nose is off limits too", he knew -and hoped she wouldn't notice- that a tiny smile was on his face.

"Any place you wouldn't naturally find a coin, let's leave it at that",

"Fair enough. So what are you doing now". She looked at the plastic bag in her hand,

"Homework",

"Ah. I'll just leave you with one last trick then", she glanced up at him again,

"Oh?". Fighting down a smirk, he took the book out of his back pocket and held it out to her.

"You didn't have to get your own copy, I said I would lend you mine!", he let a _small_ smirk come onto his face.

"It is yours". She looked confused for a moment but then her eyes snapped up to his.

"You stole my book!"

"Not stole, borrowed"

"Okay, that's not called a trick, that's called a felony", he knew she wasn't being serious - fully serious, anyway.

"I just wanted to put some notes in the margins for you", he told her honestly. Raising an eyebrow, she took the book and opened a random page, flicking through some more, and then stopping to read his neat, black handwriting.

"See! Yet another felony, I should really report this to Taylor, he won't be very happy", she grinned at him.

"Wait. You've read this before!", her eyes met his and she could see the smirk in his eyes, a smirk that was not as annoying as she would usually think- wait, what?

"About 40 times",

"I thought you said you didn't read much", she teased with a smile.

"Huh. Well, what is much?", this was said with a smug smirk.

"Night, Rory", he turned to walk away,

"Night, Dodger", she murmed, reading the notes. He turned back around,

"Dodger?". She looked up at him with a smile,

"Figure it out", she stated, then started walking away.

"Oliver Twist", he called out after her. She smiled at the pages, then turned around to give him a small nod, and continued walking away. Not even her mother could get her references like that. It made her giddy.

Jess stood there for a minute, watching her walk away. ' _Night, Dodger_ ', her words resounded in his head, and when he turned away, he couldn't have stopped the smile spreading across his face if he wanted to.

 **X**

"So, Janie Fertman's trying to be my friend again", Lane said as she and Rory walked down the street.

"Yikes. What kind of a vibe were you giving her?", Rory asked.

"Oh, my patented 'Keith Richards Circa 1696 Don't Mess With Me' vibe, with 1000 yard Asian stare thrown in", she replied, mimicking staring at nothing.

"That should do it", she grinned. Then they heard a police siren.

"What's happening up there?", Rory asked, to herself, really, looking at the large crowd surrounding Doose's and a very prominent police car.

"Hey, what's going on?", she asked, spotting Dean's familiar figure. He turned around.

"Don't know. I got here, and this is what I found. I told him it looked fake but he didn't believe me".

"And you have such an honest face", she cooed.

"He must not love me as much as you do", he met her gaze, but something felt... Off. She didn't think she wanted to look into his eyes.

"Okay, you two are officially sickening", Lane muttered, unintentionally saving her, she took the opportunity to break eye contact.

"Everyone's accounted for, Taylor. Looks like this is just an elaborate prank", a uniformed woman said, walking over to Taylor.

"But it looks so real - where'd they get the police tape?", he cried, throwing his hands in the air.

"Kids have their ways", she replied.

"Who'd be depraved enough to...", the conversation faded away from Rory as she looked up across the street and saw Jess leaning against the lamp post. She met his gaze, a silent question in her eyes. He smiled at her and turned around, walking away. Guess she had her answer.

 **X**

"Should you be standing here all alone? I hear this is a pretty dangerous corner". Rory resisted the urge to face him,

"I'm fine", she replied coldly,

"Feeling succinct today?", he half-joked.

"Pretty much", she still refused to look at him.

"Did I do something to offend?", he asked.

"Me?", she finally spared him a glance.

"Yeah"

"No"

"Good"

"You might want to ask that same question to Luke, though",

"Meaning?". She glared at him,

"You've got this whole town down on him!"

"Really. How'd I do that?", he raised an eyebrow.

"You know how you did that!", she snapped. When he just looked at her vacantly she tapped the ground beneath them, which still had the outline of the body stained into it.

"Ah", he moved to look at it,

"What about it?", that obnoxiousness was starting to annoy her.

"You did it. The whole town knows you did it, they had a town meeting about it", she replied exasperatedly.

"You actually went to that bizarro town meeting? It's so... To Kill a Mocking Bird", he scoffed. She glared at him again.

"Yes, I went. And so did Luke, and when he got there, everyone ganged up on him. They all want you gone!"

"Like anyone would miss me", the comment stopped her for a second, but she wouldn't let it show.

"And he's standing up, yelling at everyone and defending you! And now he's a pariah and it's all because of you!". He didn't reply. She threw her hands up in the air.

"What a shock, you don't care!"

"I didn't say tha-"

"You care nothing about Luke or his feelings. All he does is stick up for you and all you do is make his life harder! Luke has done a lot for me and a lot for my Mom and I don't like to see him attacked!". Jess looked at the ground.

"I didn't know they were coming down so hard on him", he murmed. She glared him.

"Okay, I get it". She looked at him sceptically,

"No, no, I really get it. I do get it", he added sincerely. She looked back to the ground, suddenly feeling embarrassed by her outburst.

"Did you at least think it was funny?", he indicated the chalk outline. Looking at it, she remembered Taylor's expression and failed to keep the smile off her face,

"That is so not the point!", he gave her a knowing look.

"Ahh, you thought it was funny", he said nodding. The soft smirk -actually, she thinks that classified as a smile- on his face make her feel like he did it for her, like it was all worth it to see her laugh. She felt butterflies in her stomach, but she kept the eye contact, his dark eyes looking at her, as if confirming her thoughts.

"Maybe it was a smidge funny", she admit, allowing the smile to crawl up her face, she still didn't break eye contact.

"Good", he replied quietly. Then the door burst open, snapping them out of their reverie.

"I got it!", Dean called, emerging through the doorway, he stopped short seeing Jess.

"Oh, uh, hey", he looked between Rory and Jess.

"Oh, Dean. I don't think you've met. Jess, this is Dean, Dean, this is Jess, Luke's nephew". Jess looked Dean up and down,

"Boyfriend?". She nervously avoided his gaze, feeling uncomfortable,

"Of course", she wished she could clear her throat, the words sounded wrong.

"Sorry, you didn't say", his voice made her want to defend herself. He turned to Dean,

"How you doing?", Dean glanced from Rory to Jess again.

"Uh, good", he sounded like an idiot.

"Okay, see you around", Rory quipped, her voice made her want to wince.

"Seems to turn out that way, doesn't it", he replied. He glanced at Dean and then turned and walked away. Rory turned around herself, and she felt Dean's arm around her shoulders, which for the first time felt heavy and uncomfortable, she ignored that and walked.

 **X**

"Oh man, it's such a relief to have that Sookie thing fixed", Lorelai said to her daughter.

"I know, I hate fighting with friends", she replied.

"That's what enemies are for", Lorelai agreed

"And God knows we have our fair share of those",

"People who eat crunchy food with their mouths open",

"People who dog-ear library books",

"People who spit when they talk". Rory raised a hand to her face,

"Oh gross! You got me in the eye!",

"Did not!",

"You totally did!",

"You're full of it", her mother concluded.

"Luke, where's my toast?", the younger Gilmore called over the counter.

"Oh, it's gonna take a while. My big toaster's broken, so I'm stuck with just this dinky one", he indicated the small white toaster on the counter.

Jess turned from where he was wiping down the counter and pressed down the lever on the big toaster and immediately went back to wiping.

"How'd that happen?", Luke asked, pressing down and popping the lever,

"You're gonna break it", Jess muttered,

"It was broken before!",

"Well it must have gotten better", he quipped sarcastically,

"Inanimate objects don't usually 'get better', did you fix this?",

"Please", he scoffed.

"Jess",

"I have no idea what your babbling about. I don't fix things", he retorted

"But yesterday-"

"I got school", Jess cut him off, grabbing a book and his jacket off of a stool on his way out. Rory looked up as if she hadn't been listening. He just about paused as he opened the door and met her gaze. She swore he smiled.

She got through to him after all, and no matter how much he denied it, she knew - his eyes gave him away. She smiled down at her food.

 **X**

 **So that's the second chapter done. I'm not really planning on adding in scenes that aren't about Jess and Rory, because I don't really like that, so yeah. Please review, I want to know your thoughts.** _ **-Crys**_


End file.
